Disney Magic for the Differently-abled

I am a girl who loves most everything Disney and have been going to Disney Parks my whole life with my family. I have Friedreich’s Ataxia, a disease that affects my coordination and mobility. I can share a lot about what you need to know when it comes to being disabled and going to a Disney Park.

Whenever I travel, I am never alone and am always with someone. I know when you go to Disney there is usually going to be a lot of walking, so when you go to the parks as a disabled person you're going to need to rent a wheelchair unless, of course, you already use one. Because I’m walking with a walker for very short distances, I need to rent a wheelchair to enjoy the park.  I usually contact the hotel where we are staying and order a wheelchair ahead of time.  The company that works with the hotel will have it waiting for you, or deliver it whenever you ask. We like to try to stay close enough to walk to the parks (Disneyland) or use the shuttles (Disney World) so we have it waiting for us.  If you don’t need one right away, you can rent from Guest Services right outside of the park. The Cast Members there are super helpful and you can rent a manual chair where someone would need to push you or a motorized scooter.  I’ve always opted for the manual type as my family doesn’t mind pushing (my sister jokes that it is great exercise!) and it is easier to maneuver through the crowds.

When I am in the park, it’s obviously easy for me to get around because I have someone pushing me all day long.  Some rides have a line where you can wait along with people that do not need any special accessibility, and some have an alternative entrance. The information is in the park map that you can get when you enter the park (there is a special gate they open there since I can’t fit through the turnstiles).  Some attractions can only be ridden if you can transfer out of your chair, but others have a way to go on the ride with your wheelchair.   

At Disneyland, for most of the rides, you need to transfer out of your wheelchair which fortunately I am able to do (with help). For some rides such as Pirates of the Caribbean or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, you enter through the exit, so they give you a return time to compensate for time you would have been waiting in the regular line.  But for Haunted Mansion, when you come back at your return time, you have to wait longer to go into the elevator because they only allow so many wheelchairs in at a time.  Sometimes we have ended up waiting so much longer than the regular line.  Cast members slow down or stop conveyor belts when they are loading differently-abled people so they don’t get hurt.  They typically ask whether I need it slowed or stopped and are very considerate. But one time in Epcot at Disney World on the ride Spaceship Earth, the cast member asked me if I needed the conveyor belt slowed down. I asked her to completely stop it, but she asked, “Why don’t you just try to get on with slowed down?”  Not a very good idea since if I fell down, I could get injured and go riding around on the conveyor circle. It was a ridiculous suggestion! They seemed a little annoyed to need to stop the conveyor.  My sister said, “Are you kidding?” so they finally stopped it. It was really a bad idea and unsafe which also made me feel like I was causing trouble.

I think Disney generally does a really good job in training their cast members to help differently-abled guests.  It is one of the places where I feel like I can participate like any able-bodied person. Almost everything is accessible – rides, shows, restaurants - (Except for some random attractions like Tarzan’s Treehouse). Maybe that’s one of the reasons why it is so much fun for me.

But sometimes when I go to the parks, some of the cast members say certain words or things that you shouldn’t say to a disabled person.  Maybe Disney needs to be sure to train regularly and give reminders.  One time at Disneyland we were waiting in line for Disney Galaxy’s Edge: Smugglers Run.  It was a very long line to get into the Millennium Falcon.  The ride is set up so there can be 6 riders at a time in each “vehicle”.  There were only 4 in our group so they put two other people with us.  We were waiting and waiting. Other groups kept passing us, even some with wheelchairs.  Finally my mom asked why it was taking longer to get on.  They said they were waiting for a special cabin so I didn’t have to transfer.  No one asked if I was able to transfer so this was super annoying. The 2 people with us were also very annoyed and said so. The cast member responded “sorry you got stuck with them,” indicating my group. My sister was really angry with her.  It was so rude and insensitive.  The cast member babbled a little because she knew she’d really blown it.  They not only didn’t ask if I could transfer to decrease our wait by at least a half hour, but then to say something awful on top of it was definitely not the Disney way.  They gave us a fastpass to try to make up for it, but then we found out later it wasn’t good for any of the top rides….

At Disney World in Florida, most of the lines are shared by those of us in wheelchairs and everyone else.  It’s actually a little easier so you don’t have to figure out if there is some different way to get on the ride.  When we went, we were able to see all the shows, got to sit upstairs at Yak and Yeti, visited all of the parks and rode every ride, enjoyed the Luau at the Polynesian.   Almost every cast member was considerate.  Most other guests are also nice and even some go out of their way to try to help my family getting me on and off rides.  Some other people are not very nice or downright obnoxious regarding my disability.  We took the Disney Shuttles everywhere and it was really convenient. There is a main line for people who can walk and get on the bus easily, and a separate line where they have a ramp for wheelchairs.  They will load 2 parties from the wheelchair per bus. If you remain in the chair they use straps to secure it from moving.  I almost always try to transfer to a seat which I like to do so people don’t stare as much after I use the ramp.  One time it was really late at night, it was pretty cold, and the lines for the shuttles were long.  The wheelchair line for the bus we needed was much shorter and we got to go on first. We were about to get on the bus and a lady in the regular line completely went off on me, my sister and my mom. She said she thought it was ridiculous that we didn’t have to wait as long as she did.  She was really angry.  My mom usually tries not to engage with these types of people, but she couldn’t hold back in defending me.  She told the lady that she’d give anything for me to be healthy and capable enough to stand in the long line and to not need a wheelchair.  My mom said the lady should be ashamed of herself for getting upset with a truly disabled person when she was perfectly able-bodied. After we got settled on the bus, strangers came up to me and were apologizing for the woman’s behavior and said they were so sorry that she said such unkind things.  Most people were shocked because they’d never seen such rudeness.

Most people are so nice but one horrid person can really shake you up.  For the most part, Disney does a great job of helping everyone enjoy the parks no matter your ability, and we can’t wait to go back. I hope this will help some of you when the parks are all open after COVID-19.

As Cinderella says, “Have courage and be kind.”